The proliferation of digital cameras continues to increase the number of people taking photos. During the process of taking photos, people play different roles. For example, people may play a conscious or subconscious role as a personal or family historian by taking photos that provide a history or story of their lives; the subjects of this photo history may include the people, objects, and events that are important to them. People also may play an official or unofficial role as chroniclers of organizations, such as soccer teams, churches, or clubs, for example.
Regardless of the roles people play, taking photographs is a continual process that requires each person to decide when to take a camera with them, when to take it out, and when and what to take pictures of. Through this decision process, people may simply forget to take pictures at moments and/or of subjects they had intended, particularly those that need to be taken on a regular basis.
As an example, a person may have every intention of taking pictures over the span of a vacation, but may end up taking photos only on the last day, loosing the moments and events of the previous days. As another example, during special events, such as a birthday party, a reunion, a wedding, a corporate event, or a philanthropic event, it is often desired to take a minimum number of shots of everyone as well as certain planned photos, such as the birthday person blowing out the candles at a birthday party, or of the best man giving a toast during a wedding. Keeping track of what photos have been taken and which photos remain can be a daunting task, whether for parents hosting the birthday party or a professional photographer at the wedding. Taking photos is a perishable opportunity—if missed, the photos cannot be taken later. Depending on the severity of these lapses in memory of the would-be photographer, a pictorial history of years or even entire relationships can be lost.